Anxiety after 3 months of being sober
 

:a108:

Hi All,

I am 28 year old now and I have quit drinking after 5-6 years for drinking. I started drinking at the age of 22 and I use to drink 2-3 times a months till I was 26. From 26 to 28 , I drank every night (2-3 pecks of scotch). It was last year in december when I felt urge of drinking in morning when I was in office (It was a lot on anxiety feeling), that was a alarm for me. I met my doctor and he gave me librium and I stopped drinking from that day. Its been 3 months now.

I am not sure I am alcoholic or not and I dont wanaa know the answer too, as I have decided that I wont drink again knowing that this worst feeling of anxiety is caused by it, also that I am having problem now to go through tough science papers/jornals (which is my job, and I love my job). My whole hard work for my studies looks to be going in drain, and I wont let it happen anyways!

Now here is what I am doing from past 3 months:
1) Going gym daily at night (usually at the same time, when I use to drink).
2) Drinking sparkling water, if I need to be in social comapny of drinkers.
3) Keeping myself busy.
4) Taking Vitamis (not daily though)
5) Taking good diet.

Here is what I am facing after 3 months of quitting:
1) I feel anxiety 2-3 days a week in the evening, all day long I am fine, feeling good and working nicely in my office, but when I come home it becomes really difficult some times.
2) The anxiety symptopms includes: light headness, short breath (rarely), strange feelings, butterfly stomach, worry feelings. Overall, it's not at all good feeling.
3) My sleeping is perfect ( I sleep for 7 hours) and I am happy with it atleast
4) I dont have ANY cravings for drinking.
5) I crave for smoking and feel bad after smoking.

Note: I so smoke 2-3 times a day and trying to quit.

It will be great if some guys here can guide me that till when I will be having this strange feeling of anxiety? I am really fed up of this! I don't wana take any pill to fix it, I wana go any natural way to fix it. Please suggest guys!!

Thanks in advance to all, you guys surely rock, I got a lot of support from this website and now I decided to join this and share my exp!!

:A108:

Hey you,

I went through much anxiety my first six months probably. In my case, because I was working a program, I believe it was caused from shedding the "sick" me and the "new" me was slowly gaining control. It was surreal.

Program or no program, sobriety awakens our senses. Our self awareness is heightened once sober. We start to see things about ourselves and choices we made in a new and uneasy light. As we grow in sobriety and see new positive things about ourselves and see that we can make positive choices, the uneasy mindest diminishes.

At least that was what it was like for me. At three months anxiety is still very common. hang in there and just keep doing the next right thing, then the next, then the next...

I agree with alizerin, water,

For me Im still sorta dealing with anxiety, but it is so less intense and less frequent now that it doesnt even phase me sometimes.

This is the thing for me.....

exercise, exercise, exercise.....as much as I hated to admit it, my health, diet, and lack of exercise had a lot to do with my high anxiety, insomnia, and worry.

Things have gotten much better though since getting back in shape.

I encourage you to hang in there......whether this completely disappears or just diminishes to a much more managable and functional level.

You will likely be okay.

Intro

Thank you guys for your replies!

How long does it takes to coming back in shape? I know it's different for every individual, but still... you guys gone through it... what was your exp?

First it's diet. Multivitamins. Or vitamin water. I like the vitamin water because I never was a big water drinker. Trying to eat fruit and other fresh stuff. I started to feel physically better after about 6 months.

I will say that being an alcoholic did a number on me. I wasn't who I was supposed to be. That included appearance. So, I felt really, really, less than. I was overweight and wore glasses.

By six months I was 40 pounds thinner (at optimum weight) and no longer needed, or need glasses! Which isn't typical. But still. I look ten years younger now at 2 1/2 years. Weird, very little change as far as excersize. Although, I walk a little now. I was a beer drinker so I took in tons of calories while actively at it.

Thanks Alizerin and Introvrtd1, your replies suerly given a positive hope!

Folks.. (who view this post), any more inputs from you? I hope more guys will share their exp and it will help me and other people who will have similar issue!

Thanks a lot in adavnce!

I've been taking fish oil, garlic tabs, cal-mag-zinc, vitamin c, vitamin b complex, detox tea, milk thistle, potassium, melatonin (for sleep), besides my hypertensive medication (because im fat now, hahah), and doing quite well since ive been exercising again.

Only thing is........ive got to keep it up. my goal is lose 40lbs......a lot i know.......but its a goal none-the-less.......

Melatonin is something I'll use too. Alcoholic/addict friendly. For me at least, it doesn't make you fall asleep (hence the sense of passing out). It certainly keeps me asleep tho! I wanted to get a nap in one day before the kids came home because I knew I'd have a late night. So I took one and slept for 5 hours!

Water4ever, welcome. :)

I also think your reaction is normal. You stopped drinking, congratulation, and now you´re facing uncertainty that comes with a new life.

It will sort itself out, but keep doing what you´re doing, despite the nervousness. You´re doing everything right.

If your symptoms get worse, I recommend Cognitive therapy from my own experience, but keep exercising, have a balanced diet and keep sleeping well.

Keep up the good work and keep it simple. You´re getting ready for a new way of life, the possibilities are endless.

:grouphug:

Reading all replies I feel relaxed that nothing happening wrong with me. Surprizingly I am feeling good from past two days and there is no anxiety.. what so ever... Let's see how long this "good time" will last.. I am getting ready for new "anxiety session" to come :).... Life has become roller coaster for sure... but I am happy that atleast I am on my own now... no alcohol to shadow me!!

Thanks guys for giving me support here!

curious about symptoms
 

Hi there.

I posted a couple of days back (new thread in the anxiety forum) and have just seen this post.....I'm curious....Could you explain your symptoms of anxiety, or even alcohol withdrawal. If you read my post (I won't bore you all with it again here) you'll see I've now gone 3 and a half months without a drop of alcohol and still have some mild symptoms. Just wanted to see how my symptoms compare before I start to worry that it isn't even related to alcohol at all!!!!
Up until this point, I've never suffered with anxiety.
Any input at all is greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance xx

Anxiety
 

Hi -

I am Brian and this is my first post.

In my case anxiety was present long before I even started drinking, which I am pretty sure is why I started drinking in the first place..and in turn became an alcoholic. I am sure this is the case with a lot of people. I am over 3 years sober now and still suffer from anxiety, only now I feel it more since I am not drowning out all my feelings with alcohol. I am finally taking steps to try and fix this..medication, therapy, and a lot of reading about this. One thing is for sure though, I will take this over being drunk any day. At least I can make my own decisions now rather than having the drink do it for me.

Hi Brian and welcome.

Congratulation, it´s a great achievement to be sober 3 years. Good for you.

Keep posting and reading, you will find solutions. Have you tried CBT?

I know both medication, exercise and therapy can help.

Best of luck, hoping to hear more from you.

:grouphug:

Hi Lilya -

Actually, it is a CBT program I am going through. I just started a couple weeks ago so I will keep you posted about how its working out. I hear it has a pretty high success rate.

My doc keeps saying "yoga breathing", but haven't mastered it yet.

water4ever, you're doing so many good things for yourself; it's great to hear:)

There have been lots of good suggestions so far, I don't have any to add.

I did want to add that I've had a similar experience. When I first stopped drinking, I had moments of anxiety (I don't like to call them 'anxiety attacks'. It's ironic to have such a dramatic name for this particular event don't you think?)

Starting on week two until about 3 months in, about every second day I would have a moment of my chest tightening and feeling like I couldn't breathe, and then I would get light headed. It would always pass after a few minutes.

I don't get that anymore.

Spryte, I'm having similar symptoms. I'm not an alcoholic but went through a period of heavier drinking for just over a year. It's been 4 months since I touched a drop and I still get the tightness in my chest, coupled with back and shoulder ache. I have more days without these feelings now, but they still come and go. You say you had yours 3 months in, did they stop after that??
As I'm not an alcoholic, is there any chance I can get back to occasionally drinking alcohol as I did before, or have I damaged myself somehow????
I can't understand why they are termed anxiety symptoms, when I'm not even bloody anxious!!!

i am glad to read about this. I remembered when this first started happening i didnt know what was going on and was frustrated that the doc said it was anxiety. I felt he didnt take me serious. I felt it was more serious.

I have had EKG's, CT Scans, EEG, etc and everything was still good. Thank the Lord for that! It was hard for me to understand that it was from being off alcohol. I don't really recall saying "It is because of". He just said "its anxiety" and then they go into 20 questions about
"Hows your job?"
"how is your family life"

I would cut him off saying things are a-ok. They were looking for things triggering this when there wasn't any. No one linked it to the alcohol even though i was transparent about previous usage.

It was nice to find this forum as i was googling symptoms and trying to get to the bottom of it. It was like "Eureka!!"

Its refreshing and reassuring to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel so to speak.

You start to wonder how long should anxiety symptoms last. Days, weeks, months, etc. Its good to remember that the body is adapting!

Great post!!

Water, I hope your doing well since the last 8 months or so!
~stableaddict

I too have been experiencing this agony. Its just non-stop anxiety for the past 5 days since I became sober off alcohol. I'm not sure if that is normal. The only time I feel somewhat at ease is late at night.

Anyway I find it strange because I have drank the past 3 years almost every night, and when I did stop for a few nights I never felt anxious. (I quit for 3 nights around christmas time and felt fine, although I do remember my muscles tensing up at times).

Now a month later, going through my first real sobriety (which is almost at 6) days, i'm an anxious mess for just about every waking second. Is this recovery or GAD? :wild